Yozora no Hikari
by Perhelediel
Summary: Light, even in the darkest evening sky. A collection of Bleach drabbles. Humor, fluff, angst, randomness. [004:Overprotective]
1. 001: Candy

_The Concept_: A collection of Bleach oneshots, fifteen in total (perhaps more, if inspiration strikes), of all different pairings/themes/settings. The "inspiration word" for each will be the title of the chapter. Thanks to Riona Strife for the inspiration words.

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Bleach, nor any of the characters, nor the plot. Only the crazy little situations they get themselves into.

-------------------

**ONESHOT / 001: "Candy" **

----------------------

"And what, exactly, does this...thing do?"

_I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. Age fifteen. Freshman._

The petite girl sat down on her heels and cocked her head at an odd angle to look in the cavernous opening near her knees. She brushed back her raven hair from her face, holding most of it in one fist so she could see better.

_...and I've got the universe's weirdest female living in my bedroom closet._

"It's a vending machine," Ichigo answered wearily, his brow furrowing. "You get food out of there."

"Out of _there_?" Rukia asked incredulously, turning her head and looking up at him. "This...monstrosity?"

"Yeah," he responded, trying to restrain himself, instead clicking his tongue. "Want me to show you?"

Rukia considered, then gathered herself and stood up, casting Ichigo a rather disbelieving cock of the eyebrow as she watched him approach the large, boxy machine. Her dark eyes followed his hand as it searched in his pocket, came up with a coin, and brought it to a thin opening on the right side. He put it through, and she jumped slightly as she heard a loud clink of gears emit from somewhere inside the mysterious contraption.

"Er, which kind do you want?" Ichigo asked her, indicating a column of brightly-colored pictures set in plastic beneath the opening he'd slid the coin through.

"Uhm..." she said warily, looking with slight disdain at the faded depictions. "Why don't you decide?"

He muttered to himself, then punched one of the plastic outcroppings with his knuckle. Rukia stepped back a pace when an ominous rumbling sounded from deep within the machine.

As an extra precaution, she side-stepped to stand behind the orange-haired teenager beside her.

With a crash, something landed in the rectangular cavern she'd been examining a moment ago. Startled, she peered out from around Ichigo's arm as he bent to retrieve whatever had fallen.

_...sometimes I wonder if she'll ever get used to the mortal world._

He thrust something at her, and she took it carefully from him, turning it over in her hand.

"Chock--" she began, cocking an eyebrow. "Chocolate?"

"Yeah, it's good," Ichigo said. He couldn't help but snicker inwardly at the shinigami next to him, for once not assuming intellectual superiority over him. "Give it a try."

She pursed her lips, staring at the paper-wrapped bar in her hands with a look of extreme condescension.

"Fine, lemme do it, dumbass," Ichigo said impatiently after a moment, taking the treat from her and peeling the paper off somewhat unceremoniously. He crumbled the wrapper in one hand while thrusting the chocolate back at her, the bar a bit soft at the sides from the June sun.

Rukia took it, then with a look of--was it disgust?--brought it to her lips and bit into it. She seemed to hold it on her tongue for a moment, then began to eat it, the frown on her face loosening. She looked back up at him, cocking her lips in a half-smile.

"Not horrible," she said, licking some melted sweet off her fingertips. Ichigo threw his bag over his shoulder, rolling his eyes and putting his free hand in his pocket.

"C'mon, let's get home before it melts."

"All right," Rukia conceded, breaking off another small piece. "Ichigo-san...would you be able to leave any of this in your closet?"

**END**

-----------

You leave reviews. I write more oneshots. The world is a happier place to be. :-D


	2. 002: Fan

_The Concept_: A collection of Bleach oneshots, fifteen in total (perhaps more, if inspiration strikes), of all different pairings/themes/settings. The "inspiration word" for each will be the title of the chapter. Thanks to Riona Strife for the inspiration words. 

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Bleach, nor any of the characters, nor the plot. Only the crazy little situations they get themselves into.

-------------------

**ONESHOT / 002: "Fan" **

----------------------

"Huzzah, huzzah! Congratulations, Ichigo. You have passed the second test."

The teenager scowled, picking at a fragment of white--something--stubbornly sticking to his orange hair.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he growled. "I turned into a friggin' Hollow."

"Perhaps yes, Kurosaki-san, but did you notice..." the shopkeeper said lightly, gesturing vaguely with his closed fan at Ichigo's chest, his finger tapping it impatiently. "...the change in wardrobe?"

Ichigo gathered himself up, looking down and cocking an eyebrow. He plucked at the garment with two pinched fingers, clicking his tongue. A white chamise beneath a black kimono, with a stunningly-white length of cloth tied elegantly around his waist.

"I'm...a Soul Reaper."

"Quite right," Urahara said, in a tone far too cheerful for the moment, flicking his fan open in front of his face, his dancing eyes in shadow. "You have completed Shattered Shaft. Now...onto lesson three!"

He slammed the end of his cane onto the hardened ground, dust swirling from the impact. He picked it up again, but the body was left behind--

Ichigo stared as a zanpakuto emerged from the sheath, the sheath that had so remarkably masqueraded as a walking stick--and as a point of annoyance when its end was slammed into his konpaku's head on many an occasion. The end slid out and the sheath tipped over into the dust. Urahara kicked it away with one sandaled foot.

"...lesson three..." the man said brightly. He looked up at Ichigo.

"Knock this hat off my head. That is all. You have no time limit."

The boy stared dumbly at him, his mouth going slack.

"Your hat?"

"Precisely," Urahara said, the laughter in his voice gone.

He fluttered the fan nonchalantly before his face, his light brown hair rustling. He smiled in a paternal fashion, brandishing his blade.

"Aa," Ichigo said after a moment, a scowling grin appearing on his face. "I'll do that..."

"Very well. I wish you luck."

He smiled. A shrill whistle pierced the air as a far more intense wind than his fan had been providing swept over his face. He opened his eyes, looking down thoughtfully.

His fan lay in two on the dusty earth, a perfect, clean cut. Ichigo brushed the broad side of Zangetsu with one hand, dusting it off.

"A remarkable feat," Urahara admitted, kneeling to pick up the two pieces and stuff them in the pocket of his kimono. "However, that was not the task."

He indicated the striped atrocity on his head.

"...this is my hat. THIS is what you are to remove."

"I know that," Ichigo quipped, putting Zangetsu over his shoulder. "I just wanted your damn fan out of the way."

**END**

**--------------------**

Reviews will be rewarded with my undying gratitude! Or at least an e-brownie.


	3. 003: Rooftops

_The Concept_: A collection of Bleach oneshots, fifteen in total (perhaps more, if inspiration strikes), of all different pairings/themes/settings. The "inspiration word" for each will be the title of the chapter. Thanks to Riona Strife for the inspiration words. 

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Bleach, nor any of the characters, nor the plot. Only the crazy little situations they get themselves into. Also, for this chapter, one line belongs to the musical "Into the Woods." I'll trust you to find it.

-------------------

**ONESHOT / 003: "Rooftops" **

----------------------

Shibata is afraid. 

Because the bright-haired ryoka boy, who just stumbled into Rukongai along with Mister, is sitting high up.

_Too_ high.

Chad carries the slight boy on his shoulders, his large brown hands grasping his ankles. It feels strange, to be carrying around the soul of what he had believed to be a parakeet. But that was a stupid idea.

Then again, he had just come out of a series of lessons from a talking black cat.

Things did not surprise him anymore.

"Mister," Shibata chirps. He still sounds like a little bird, Chad thinks with a smile, despite the fact he's shed that form. "Why is the orange-haired boy on the rooftop?"

Chad doesn't answer for a moment. He sees the wind blowing Ichigo's shihakusho; it catches on one of the small pointed turrets along the pinnacle of the terracotta roofing. He's staring ahead, his brow furrowed. As usual.

Shibata senses hesitation, and looks curiously down at the man carrying him.

Chad can see a tall white cliff an immeasurable distance to the east, glowing like some eerie kind of diamond in the sun's waning light. The Sereitei--and the white tower.

"Well...he's looking for something," Chad says slowly, his deep voice careful.

"What will he find up so high?" the little boy asks, confused, his little hands resting on top of Chad's head. "What if he falls?"

Chad can't surpress a small chuckle. Considering the answer, he knows that the little boy does not know the gravity of the question he has just asked.

"He won't fall."

The one with the bright orange hair shifts, sitting back to lean on his hands. They curl into fists, his knuckles turning white. His face is so contorted and stern, Shibata is afraid it will shatter into a million pieces from the tension.

_If you know what you want, then you go and you find it and you get it._

"What is he looking for, Mister?" the boy asks, leaning down to look upside down at Chad's face. "Will he find it up there?"

Chad smiles at the boy's bemused eyes, staring at his from the wrong direction.

"Yeah. I think he will."

**END**

**--------------**

Reviews make everybody happy! Especially me! So leave some, please. :-D


	4. 004: Overprotective

_The Concept_: A collection of Bleach oneshots, fifteen in total (perhaps more, if inspiration strikes), of all different pairings/themes/settings. The "inspiration word" for each will be the title of the chapter. Thanks to Riona Strife for the inspiration words. 

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Bleach, nor any of the characters, nor the plot. Only the crazy little situations they get themselves into.

-------------------

**ONESHOT / 004: "Overprotective" **

----------------------

For once in her life, she doesn't want to listen.

He's there. He's breathing. He's...

He's _bleeding_.

She wants to go to him. Oh, with all her heart she wants to tear away from whatever is holding her to this spot. But she's still listening to him.

Still listening...

"There are two kinds of battle...one for survival, and one for honor."

Damn.

_Damn it all..._

Kaien-dono. Ukitake-taicho.

"This is his fight..."

But Ichigo is bleeding. And Rukia is doing _nothing_. And suddenly the menace has passed. Like a heat wave the time rushes past her dulled senses, and Ichigo is alone.

Ichigo is still bleeding.

_Ichigo is still dying_.

His warm blood as he collapses onto her shoulder. Warm. He's warm. She could not help him. Still cannot. Rukia lets his fall bring them earthward, and he is in her arms and she cradles him on her lap as she did with one other she cared for...

Ichigo is back where he should be...in her arms. Like the other was not.

"Ichigo...I'm glad...that you didn't die today. I'm so thankful..."

And all she can do is kiss his forehead and know that he'll be all right...

_...and hope that she will be, too._

**END**

-----------

Yeah, that was pertaining to Episode 9. Reviews are most welcome and appreciated. Flames will be given to Kon to play with.


End file.
